Rule #34-Mountain bike shoes have their place-on a mountain bike.
During our very recent Cogal I gained some on-the-road insight on Rule #34. We were on a part of the route I have never ridden on a bike and had no memory of. The pavement was pavé, Maui-style. Somewhere deep down below the surface of the road was primordial road, patched with only scoopfuls of asphalt over the years until the surface is completely dimpled with mango sized mounds of road. This was good and expected. The Roubaix technique of big charinring (ahemmm, errrr, 50 tooth), powering along, keeping the weight on the pedals and handlebars had us making good progress through some of Maui’s most remote country. And it was raining and there was cow manure to ride over…almost Northern France.
I came around a bend and hit a steep berg. The tilted road kept curving right so it was impossible to know when it ended but it couldn’t end soon enough for me. I was quickly in the worst of straits: out of gears, out of the saddle and fully gassed with no end in sight. There were still two people behind me that had to be looking to get by; they could not possibly be going slower. I was unintentionally weaving over the pavé as my complete focus was on keeping the bike up and not hitting a hole or a bump big enough to stop me dead.
Totally redlined on a climb that has no immediate end in sight, these are the worst and best times for a cyclists. If you let your back wheel slip, you stop and the foot goes down, unacceptable. If you just say basta, pull on your brakes and put down your feet, that is worse. I assume all cyclists feel this way. If you are on the Koppenberg someone better have blocked your way. No one gets off halfway up that and says, nah, I’d rather walk. If I have a heart attack trying to ride up something horrible, that might be better than the alternative.
“He wasn’t the brightest, but he didn’t put his foot down”.
It is the best time for a cyclists simply because given all alternatives, there are none, it’s Rule #5. No need to think, better not to think, just keep it going up.
If I did put my foot down on a shiny, wet, steep berg, what then? I have speedplay cleats and those aren’t getting me anywhere if I’m not on a bike. No cleat covers that day so I would be laying down my sweet steed, sitting on this hill while I take my shoes off? That is not going to happen.
The only way my putting a foot down that would not end in a bad nickname for life would be if I was wearing mtb shoes. No one needs that temptation. Looking past the obvious reasons for Rule #34: the mtb shoe-cleat connection is sloppy, mtb shoes look lame on road riders and we are riders, not walkers is the cruel temptation to put a foot down and push the bike up to the top of a hill. This is something no one needs in their time of need.
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You were riding thru Middle-Earth -- nice photo.
Ah nice one Gianni, I'm proud that I haven't yet put a foot down on a climb while my riding pal who nowadays shoots up the hills and waits for me at the top has, a few times, on his 6kg Cento Uno and he said he just couldn't get started again with a 34-28!?! but he only had to walk a hundred metres or so to the Cairn 'o' mount carpark.
This summer we'll be in France staying at a chalet within riding distance of Alp d'Huez so we'll be seeing that stage for sure.
I come here every day to read about the V so you needn't ask if we're taking our bikes and passing the Tom Simpson Monument on them, as well as other cols. It's gonna fucking ROCK!
It is quite an interesting point. Which is worse, to be caught by an unsuspecting wall that will have you thinking you are about to cough up a lung....or.....to know that the wall is coming up and the terror that strikes in to your soul as the anti-v stalks up, starts breathing hot sweat on the back of your neck and whispers in your ear "turn around, it is so much easier in the other direction"
Personally I find the latter far more concerning than the former, once I am in the shit I can see only one way out and that is to just concentrating on getting the crank the 360 degrees. Nothing else matters because at the top lies salvation! However the terror I feel as I approach a hill that I know is going to spank me is almost unbearable, to the extent I rush towards it in a headlong suicidal charge hoping that momentum at least get me some of the way up. (and probably tire myself out in the process of building up speed)...
Such is the price our minds make up pay.
Great article though Gianni!
@Deakus
Oh man, those pre-climb jitters get me every time. I can almost feel my legs screaming at me before I even start.
Stopping on a climb absolutely sucks - almost nothing is more demoralizing. This past summer I made it up two bigger climbs (~1,000m) without stopping, whereas the previous year on both I had to stop to catch my breath. That was certainly a victory.
Oops, we won't be passing the Tom Simpson Monument, that's on Mont Ventoux. My pedalwan status revealed.
i will admit to riding mtn pedals on my winter bike one year. why? because that was the first year i decided i would ride through the winter. in order to do that, i needed winter shoes; every other option i tried ended up with frozen toes after 1:30 of riding. and i knew i'd be riding the road bike when it was just cold, but the cross bike when it was snowy. i couldn't afford buying two pairs of winter shoes and i had an extra set of mtn pedals. plus it came in handy, having to occasionally carry my bike for a bit while i walked through some snow/slush. but now i've got proper winter road shoes and i love 'em. however, i now have to put bags over my feet to avoid covering the cleats in snow/ice while i walk down the driveway to start my ride (gravel driveway; you can never completely clear it). i can't win.
i will say that riding a road bike with mtn pedals does suck. the feeling is just not the same. i'm not one to talk about the intricacies of different shoes, soles, cleats, etc and how they'll effect your magnificent stroke. but when i changed back to road pedals that spring, the sense of power i felt in every pedal stroke was incredible.
Have entered the Coast to Coast in a day again. Last year I fell off on Hardknott and Wrynose because at 33% I either stopped moving or because my back tyre lost traction and I started going backwards and then fell off. Regular readers will recall the magazine pictures of me collapsing in a heap and then walking. Fortunately I looked pro and fantastic (especially in the hat department) and the people around me did not - I also had my Speedplay cafe covers in my pocket.
This year I will peak at the end of June and climb the bastards on pure V.
Probably.
@the Engine
You do both those in a day plus the full route you get "double chapeau"!
Gotta love a Friday afternoon (for me!) installment of the V-article!
Damn, this is actually something I pondered back when I was just getting into road cycling and I think, to be honest, it is a question I have suppressed since I became a Follower. (Or was it virtual beaten out of my mind?) Either way, I haven't thought about it in years.
And now here is Gianni with the answer! Chapeau, sir. I stopped two summers ago while trying to climb a mean peak around here. Headed out with three dudes who are far more accomplished than I & that was a long, painful day. I considered tossing my bike over the railing. Instead I sat on it, first told myself I don't get paid to ride, then Rule V'ed it and I guess was able to clip in on the grassy shoulder and get going again. I have no idea, guess I blocked it out.
"He wasn't the brightest, but he didn't put his foot down". This should go on a headstone at the required time!
"Hello, my name is Charles and I'm a walker."
"Hi Charles."
In my early Pedalwan days, on a few occasions I bit off more than I could chew climb wise and I ended up walking, generally on sustained 15%+ pitches. (Thank you Time for the Cafe Cleat and Sidi for making replacement heals) I'll even admit to walking the last few miles of Mount Snow during the 200 on 100 as the guns were utterly out of ammo at km 256 or so. But everything I once walked up, I have since returned and climbed (except for Mount Snow, but it shall be done probably in 2014).
I find it's such a great feeling to go back and conquer a piece of tarmac that defeated you before. And I get the same pre-climb jitters at he base, but knowing you've done it before is such a huge mental advantage that I've never failed to climb something I've climbed before.